Q134347: INFO: Troubleshooting Visual C++ Setup Problems Under Windows 9
Article: Q134347
Product(s): Microsoft C Compiler
Version(s): 2.0,2.1,2.2,4.0
Operating System(s):
Keyword(s): kbsetup kbtshoot
Last Modified: 18-FEB-2002
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The information in this article applies to:
- Microsoft Visual C++, versions 2.0, 2.1, 2.2, 4.0
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SUMMARY
=======
This article shows you how to troubleshoot problems that may arise as you are
setting up Visual C++ under Windows 95. The majority of setup troubles are going
to have their root in one of three things:
- Hardware incompatibility
- Hardware failure
- Device driver conflict (the most likely)
The goal of this article is to help you get Visual C++ installed, build a sample
program, and run the sample from within the IDE (internal development
environment).
If you run into a problem or receive an error along the way, the cause and the
steps to take are pretty much the same regardless of whether the error occurs
during the installation or after the installation as you try to build programs.
MORE INFORMATION
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Step-by-Step Troubleshooting
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1. Determine which hardware device or device driver is causing the problem. To
isolate the culprit, first look in the Device Manager. To find the Device
Manager, point to the My Computer icon on your desktop, and click the right
mouse button. Click Properties on the menu, and then select the Device
Manager Tab. Be sure the View Devices by Type option is selected. This
displays a tree control of the various hardware devices you have. Opening a
given device on the tree control (by double-clicking it or by selecting it
and clicking the the Properties button) shows the property sheet for the
driver currently managing the device.
2. Open each device's property sheet. For each driver, check the device status
message; you should see "Device is functioning properly." If the property
sheet has a Driver tab, click it, and note the name of the driver file. If
there is no Driver tab, the device driver is a standard driver, which is
loaded internally by Windows 95. If you find a device driver that is
malfunctioning and has a driver file, remove this driver and try again. If
you find a standard device driver (no Driver tab on the property sheet) that
is malfunctioning, check with the device's manufacturer to be sure there no
third-party driver is required. Take careful note of whether or not your hard
disk or CD-ROM uses third-party driver files, and what those file names are.
3. Start Windows 95 in a safe mode - that is with only those third-party drivers
that are absolutely required for the computer to run and install Visual C++.
a. Shut down your computer, and then restart it.
b. When the screen says "Starting Windows 95 ..." press the F8 key to display
the Windows 95 start-up menu.
c. Select Safe Mode or Safe Mode With Network Support. This will boot Windows
95 into plain VGA mode, with no third-party drivers loaded. If you are
installing from a local CD-ROM drive to a local hard-disk drive, select
Plain Safe Mode, even if you are on a network.
- If your problem is an unsuccessful installation, re-do the installation
at this point. If this installation is successful, there is a good
chance you can restart in standard configuration and build a sample
successfully. If standard configuration builds fail, restart in safe
mode and see if you can build a program. If you can build in safe mode,
proceed to step 4 as though your original problem was a successful
installation, but you cannot build programs.
- If your problem is a successful installation, but you can't build
programs, try building a sample under safe mode. If you can build the
sample, then your task in step 4 will be to re-add drivers one at a
time until you find the one that breaks the build process. Once
discovered, you can contact the author to see if there are updates, or
you can disable that driver when doing Visual C++ builds.
- If your CD-ROM or hard-disk drive was previously using a third- party
driver, there is a good chance you will not be able to install in safe
mode due to an inability to access either your CD-ROM or hard-disk
drive. If that is the case, proceed to step #4 for step-by-step clean
boot instructions to load only the hard- disk driver or CD-ROM driver
file and no others.
4. Arriving at this step probably means one of two things. You have installed
and can build in safe mode, but cannot build in your regular configuration,
or you could not access your hard-disk drive or CD-ROM in safe mode. In this
step, you will clean boot again, but with step-by- step confirmation for each
driver being loaded.
a. Rename your System.ini file to something else, such as System.org (avoid
.bak as a suffix). Second, copy (do not rename) System.cb to System.ini.
The System.cb file is the "clean" System.ini that safe mode uses to boot
your computer.
NOTE: If you find that your mouse is not working when you boot using
system.cb, adding the following may correct the problem:
[boot]
drivers=mmsystem.dll
mouse.drv=mouse.drv
[enh386]
mouse=*vmouse
b. Shut down your computer, and then restart it. When the screen says
"Starting Windows95 ...," press the F8 key for the windows 95 start-up
menu.
c. Select Step-by-Step Confirmation, then follow these steps:
1. Answer Y to process the system registry.
2. Answer Y to create a start-up log file. The log file can be helpful in
diagnosing problems, such as VxD's that can't load.
3. Answer Y to process your start-up device drivers (Config.sys). You will
not be asked this question if Config.sys is not found.
4. Answer Y or N to each driver as appropriate (answer Y to Himem.sys,
Emm386.sys, Ifshlp.sys).
5. Answer Y to process Autoexec.bat, or Y to load the Windows graphical
user interface. You will be asked the first question if Autoexec.bat is
not found, and the second question if it is.
6. Answer Y to load all Windows Drivers. These are the internal Windows
system drivers and are required.
If you are at this step (step 4) because of an inability to access your CD-ROM
or your Hard-disk drive in safe mode, attempt to complete the installation if
it is not already complete, and build a program. If you still cannot build or
install, then the conflict is probably with the very driver you need to
access your hard-disk or CD-ROM drive. Note the name of the driver file
involved, the date and time of the file, and the size in bytes. You may also
be able to get a revision number by clicking the right button when the file
is selected in the Windows Explorer and selecting Properties. With this
information, contact your hardware vendor to see if they have an update or a
patch you can acquire.
A common symptom of CD-ROM or hard-disk drive drivers conflicting or failing
is files becoming corrupt during what appears to be a successful installation
of Visual C++. To verify the integrity of the files copied from the CD-ROM to
the Hard-disk drive, use FC.exe; for information on how to do this, please
see the following article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:
Q94653 Using FC.EXE to Verify CD-ROM File System Drivers
NOTE: For Visual C++ 2.x, there are two files, Msvcshl.dll and Spyxx.exe, in
the Bin subdirectory that Fc.exe will report as different. These two files
are modified as part of the installation process, and are therefore expected
to be different. For Visual C++ 4.0, there are three files that are
different: Msdev.exe, Msvccpp.pkg and Spyxx.exe. If any other files are found
to differ, simply copying them from the CD-ROM drive may fix the problem.
If setup is still failing, the CD-ROM driver is the one that is conflicting,
and it is impossible to download a new CD-ROM device driver, there is a last
resort that sometimes works. Boot to a plain MS- DOS mode. Copy the entire
Msvc20 directory to a temporary directory on the computer's hard drive by
using XCOPY. Then install from the temporary directory. Run "setup.exe /f"
from the CD-ROM afterwards to set the Help file paths and other paths
correctly. Finally, delete the temporary directory. Of course this "solution"
requires that the computer have plenty of extra disk space available.
If you are at step 4 because you can build in safe mode, but not in standard
mode, begin adding the drivers you weren't loading, one by one, until the
process breaks. If all drivers get loaded and the program still builds, your
video driver may be at fault, or it may be a combination of two or more
drivers being loaded simultaneously (and conflicting with each other) that is
causing the problem. Once the culprit is found, again note the date and time,
size in bytes, and possibly the revision number of the driver. Then contact
the driver's manufacturer for an update or patch.
Creating a Hardware Profile
---------------------------
If you have to manipulate driver files individually, it may be useful to create a
Hardware Profile, with only certain specified drivers loaded (sort of a custom
clean boot). Hardware Profiles may be created and saved as follows:
1. Click My Computer using the right mouse button. Click the Hardware Profile
tab, highlight Original Profile in the list box, and click the Copy Button,
naming the new profile as you wish. This hardware profile is now an exact
copy of your original or default configuration.
2. Click the Device Manager tab, and open up the property sheet for each device
driver. Note the section called Device Usage. Clear the check box next to
your new profile for each device driver you don't want to load when booting
under your new profile.
If you have more than one profile, Windows 95 will prompt you for which profile
you wish to boot under at start-up.
Additional query words: Windows win95
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Keywords : kbsetup kbtshoot
Technology : kbVCsearch kbVC400 kbAudDeveloper kbVC220 kbVC200 kbVC210
Version : :2.0,2.1,2.2,4.0
Issue type : kbinfo
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